Chapter Text
Atsumu didn’t usually venture into haunted houses alone. Just like any dangerous situation, it wasn’t practical to go in without backup. But today, his apprentice had a cold, and Atsumu would be a real douche if he made the kid come with him while he was sick.
Even if Atsumu really wanted the company.
He’d never admit it to anyone, but going into these houses always scared the crap out of him. It was a haunted house! Who wouldn’t be scared? Even if he had been doing these investigations for years, he never got used to all of the strange events and things he’d seen. But normally, he saw them with someone else by his side. He just hoped this house would be one of the ones with false claims. Osamu and Suna would laugh their asses off if they found out he ran away from a job site.
Steeling himself, Atsumu finished packing his tools into his usual duffel bag and hoisted it over his shoulder. He made quick work of locking up the van and headed toward the house, the red coated key shaking a bit in his trembling hand.
This wasn’t the first time he’d done this alone, but it was the first time he’d been alone in a house with so many claims of ghost activity. Over ten people had reported experiencing paranormal activity in this place. And all of them had been so scared by it, that they’d moved away. Which was exactly why he’d been asked to investigate it.
The bank who now owned the home, the realtors in charge of selling it, and all of the surrounding neighbors wanted the paranormal activity to stop. And that was his job; discover what type of ghost they were dealing with and then exercise it.
Atsumu could do that.
He was good at that.
He was a professional.
Repeating that mantra in his head, Atsumu unlocked the door and stepped inside.
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Sakusa’s eyes peeled open slowly when he heard the sound of the front door unlocking. Sighing to himself, he stretched his limbs like a cat. Now that he was dead, his joints didn’t ache anymore, but he couldn’t help but use the same mannerisms he had picked up while he was alive. They made him feel more normal, they made him more calm.
They gave him more of a sense of control.
And he needed to keep those feelings in mind right now. Who knew who was in his home at the moment. He thought he’d run everyone off by now. The realtors, the shitty man from the bank, and all those bratty neighborhood kids who came snooping around. All of them had been scared off by a few well timed throws and cabinet doors being flung open. Every single person who’d entered the house had scurried out like he’d pointed a knife at them.
Which was excellent, since they shouldn’t be here in the first place. This had been his home before he died, and it was still his home now. Even if it was a bit boring in death. And kind of lonely.
And so monotonous he nearly felt like he’d die a second time.
But it was the only home he had. He couldn’t go anywhere else. Literally. His soul was bound to the house, and the only way he could leave it was to bind his soul to the soul of a living human. Which was a gamble in itself. Besides, all of the humans who’d walked through his front door so far hadn’t been worth it.
Whoever this fresh one was would probably be the same.
Drifting out the main bedroom door and down the hall, Kiyoomi got his first look at the newest intruder. And then a second look, and a third, and he might have taken a fourth peek as well.
Wow.
He couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen someone so handsome, someone so beautiful. The blonde man cowering in the house's front doorway was tall, not as tall as he had been, but fairly close. He had long, dark eye lashes that fanned down over his cheeks and his blonde hair hid some darker strands underneath. He was muscular, but in a lean sort of way. The hard lines of it stretched his clothes in the perfect way that made Kiyoomi want to bite him.
He felt a stirring in his groin and glanced down at himself. He wasn’t aware he could get hard in this ghostly form; he hadn’t had a reason to yet. But the reason had just waltzed in his front door. Kiyoomi had been bored out of his mind for over a year now.
Maybe this blonde stranger could change that.
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Atsumu fumbled with his flashlight, his finger shaking as he struggled to turn it on. The guy from the bank said the house’s electricity was currently shut off. If he wanted to use it, and he very much did, he’d have to find the breaker that was located in the basement and turn it back on.
Sure, the basement wasn’t the spot he’d like to head to first in a haunted house, but he’d much rather go down there now than spend the entire night in a pitch black house, just wandering through the dark.
Once his light was on, Atsumu began to walk down the hallway, trying to remember the floorplan he’d been shown when he accepted the job. Once he hit the living room, he turned to the right and opened the first door on the left, sighing with relief when he saw the staircase heading downward. That sigh turned into a yelp of fright as he heard the faint noise of breathing him.
As he felt a puff of cold, damp air against the back of his neck.
Atsumu shouted and jerked forward, the sudden motion nearly sending him tumbling down the steep staircase. He closed his eyes and braced for impact, only for a strange force to catch him around the waist and tug him backwards.
Tug him backwards into what felt like a strong, solid, muscular chest.
Atsumu yelped once more and jerked out of the hold, turning around with his flashlight raised like a weapon. But behind him there was…
Nothing.
No one.
There was nobody behind him. Even in the house’s darkness, he could tell that he was alone. He couldn’t see a single shadow, or hear any noise at all. The touch he’d thought he felt around his waist was now gone too. Had he imagined that? Had he tricked himself into hearing the breathing as well? Into feeling it against his neck? Had his fear of being in the house alone made his mind play tricks on him?
Who was Atsumu trying to kid? This was like the 50th paranormal location he’d investigated in his career. If he didn’t believe in ghosts after everything he’d experienced, then he’d be the real crazy one.
That had definitely been a ghost who breathed on him. Who’d saved him from falling. Who’d felt so built and masculine against his back. There was no doubt in his mind. This place was truly haunted.
Now it was his job to find out who, and what, it was haunted by.